Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Guest: Ben Olds”
We all have them—those rockstar employees who are the “go-to” for every hairy problem and on the short-list for every succession plan. Many of us can rattle off 10 of these “A-players,” with little trouble differentiating between them and the “B-players” who are solid employees and coming along nicely but clearly in a different league. All of us could likely …
The other day, I was listening to a friend discuss what a competitive equestrian she was growing up. As I am wont to do when fake-listening to someone wax stories of yesteryear, I started daydreaming. I couldn’t help but think: Why do people compete at riding horses? Equestrian is an artform, isn’t it? Who was the first narcissist who sat …
It happened again. We spent two weeks putting everything we had into preparing a pitch for organizational consulting work to a potentially huge client, and—once again—were shot down. This wasn’t unheard of. Any career in consulting is going to be rife with rejection. But it always stings a little bit when you see 150 hours of your work poured down …
Want a feedback culture? Join the club. But how does HR help create this? Most organizations start by teaching managers how to give feedback effectively. The logic follows that if they have the skill, then they’ll go around giving all sorts of helpful feedback to readily receptive employees who will use it to improve and pay it forward in a …
A rare drawback of being with my wife since I was 19 is that she’s now seen me through my “glory years.” In fact, one of her favorite responses to my grandiose stories of yesteryear is that I’ll never be as good as I used to be, and I was never as good as I remember being. Thanks honey. Well, …
